Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/536

 490 Alediaval Military Architecture, The whole southern side of the court, from gatehouse to gate- house, is occupied by the remains of the domestic buildings. The hall seems to have had a vaulted basement, 26 feet by 19 feet in plan, with plain ribs springing from two piers, and to have been on the first floor, with windows in the curtain. A long chamber east of the hall, with a long east window, seems to represent the chapel, also on the first floor. In this quarter some excavations made by the late Lord Dunraven have shown the stairs leading to the postern, and some vaulted cellars, and probably the kitchen. All these buildings are of an early Decorated character, and have been much altered in the Tudor period. The curtain-wall, from the keep to the great gatehouse, is about 20 feet high, and is of the age of the gatehouse, and later than the wall elsewhere. Near the gatehouse it is 20 feet thick. Part of its parapet, 6 feet, and rear wall, 5 feet high, remain. The former is bracketed out on corbels, most of which are removed newels from an older well-stair. This part of the curtain is reached from the gatehouse, and has no communication with the keep. Of the same date with this curtain is the wall on the other side of the gatehouse, southwards for about 16 yards, when there is a junction with the older wall. This part of the curtain is polygonal outside, and curved within, and externally about 40 feet high. Beyond, or north- ward of the round tower, the height of the curtain is 60 feet, and it is pierced with windows belonging to the hall and other apartments. There remains also, on the wall, a lofty chimney. Towards the junction of this curtain with the wall of the outer ward it is con- nected with a sort of gallery, looped towards the field, and intended for the defence of the hollow angle where the three walls meet. The dividing wall between the inner and outer ward is nearly destroyed, and does not seem to have been strong. The well is in the open court, 4 feet diameter, circular, and rudely walled. The outer ward does not present any very noteworthy features. Its south wall is low, and pierced with windows, as of lodgings. The north wall is strongly buttressed outside. There was an outer gateway in the western wall, now broken down. It seems to have been a mere opening in the wall, without a gatehouse, but flanked by a pair of buttresses. The walls of this ward are about 20 feet high. The northern front of the outer ward, being naturally weak, has been protected by a double ditch, the contents of which are thrown outwards, and form banks. The ditches are dry. In a field to the north-east are some banks and ditches which may have been thrown up when the castle was attacked. The castle has little to boast of either in material or workman- ship. It is mainly built of lias rubble, but the round tower is of sandstone. The mortar generally is of inferior quality, and there is but little ashlar. The roofs were covered with slabs of fissile sand or tile-stone. The southern curtain is probably the oldest part ot the castle. It is composed of large boulder or popple-stones, neces-